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Paulaski Honors English 10 20 March 2013 Lucky Luciano In the 1920s the 18th amendment was passed prohibiting the sale of alcohol which led to a rise in crime and began the start of organized crime. The 1920s brought prosperity in America but also new issues when the Great Depression hit. During the 1920s, the prohibition of alcohol created opportunities for criminals to make a lot of money (Biography 1). Once the Great Depression began, a lawless era began in America due to the lack of police officers and people enforcing the law. With the ban on alcohol many began to sell alcohol illegally and men like Lucky Luciano began the modern day mafia. In Lucianos early days he caught the attention from local gangsters due to his troublemaking ways. Soon Luciano began to sale illegal alcohol and began to push for reform within the mafia. Once taking over and reorganizing the Mafia Luciano became the Boss of all Bosses. Trouble followed Lucky later on in his life when he was jailed and then later deported back to Italy. Due to Lucky Lucianos early years he became one of the biggest mobsters due to the illegal sale of alcohol during the prohibition era and with his new found power he was able to reinvent he Mafia and becoming the Boss of all bosses but with that brought trouble which would later imprison him and send Lucky back to Italy for good. During Lucianos early days, he became a troublemaker and attracted attention from the local gangsters. Charles Lucky Luciano was born in Palermo, Italy on

Peck 1 November 27, 1897 (Encyclopedia 1). In 1907 at the age of ten Charles and his family moved to New York City in search of a better life. Luciano began to steal at a young age and was arrested at the age of ten. Luciano was a tough teenage hoodlum on the lower east side when his gang targeted a skinny Jewish boy whose bold defiance won their respect (Buchanan 1). The encounter with the Jewish boy showed that Luciano was on his way to living a life of crime. Also the encounter with Jewish boy left a lifelong friendship between the Italian gangs and the Jewish gangs. In the late 1920s he became the chief aide to Giuseppe Joe the Boss Masseria (Violence 1). Luciano handled bootlegging and hijacking for Masseria. Masseria believed in the ways of the old Mafia and had distrust for Non-Sicilians (Gosch 34). Luciano felt such hatred for others created issues to making a profit. On the night of October 16, 1929, When he was taken for a ride by rivals, assaulted, and left for dead on Staten Island (Dictionary 1). Many believed that Charles got the nickname Lucky due to the fact that he was able to survive an attack that left him for dead. The local gangsters began to pay attention to Lucianos troublemaking ways and soon recruited him in his early years. In the 1920s Masseria had entered a bloody war and Luciano began to grow impatient and eventually took over and reorganized the Mafia. Luciano grew impatient at Castellammarse war in the late 1920s, a long and bloody power struggle between Masseria and Marazano (Buchanan 1). Lucky began to feel that the war was cutting into business and soon Lucky offered to eliminate his boss Giuseppe Masseria (Britannica 1). On April 15, 1931, Giuseppe Masserias afternoon luncheon meeting was interrupted by four bullets in his back and one in his head (Pollak 1). Once Masseria had been taken out Lucky and Marazano began to divide Masserias businesses: Lucky controlled

Peck 1 Masseria lottery business while Marazano took over his bootlegging turf. Business began to boom and peace had finally settled within the Mafia but greed would soon disrupt that. After learning of a plan by Marazano to kill both he, and Al Capone, Luciano struck first, by organizing a meeting where Marazano was killed (Montaldo 1). Marazano wanted to become the Boss of all Bosses but he never realized that most of gang had turned on him and pledged allegiance to Lucky. Marazano was killed in his office and Luciano was cleared to become the most powerful criminal in New York. After his hostile takeover, Luciano organized crime. He modernized the Mafia, shaping it into a smoothly run national crime syndicate focused on the bottom line (Buchanan 2). Luciano created two dozen family bosses who controlled different parts of the syndicate. With his new found power, Luciano was able to live the lavish lifestyle that he had worked hard to have. Organizing the Mafia became a priority to Luciano in the 1920s during the bloody was that Masseria had entered with Marazano. Once finished with organizing the Mafia, Luciano began to focus on improving the ways of business for criminal organizations. Luciano main focus was to help legitimize parts within organized crime. With that he used dirty money to buy legitimate businesses that could be used in case of issues with the law. When Luciano had established his position he removed the title of Boss of all Bosses and created the Commission. When creating the Commission, Luciano created seven family bosses, five of the family bosses ran one of the five families in New York. In addition to the heads of the five families, he brought in other crime figures from across the country, including Chicagos Al Capone (Biography 1). The other two bosses represented the Western parts in the United States. Luciano sought to create unity within the organized crime and

Peck 1 with that he established the Commission in order to solve problems so it would not lead to blood shed. He sought to create a national organized crime network to quell any conflicts, manage disputes, and establish guidelines between the different operations (Biography 1). The next order of business was for Luciano was to change the way the Mafia did business (Biography 1). When the prohibition era came to an end, Luciano picked up a new line of business: prostitution. Prostitution would soon lead Lucky Luciano into an unlucky part of his life in the later years. Luciano began to improve the ways of business used by criminal organizations after he organized the Mafia. In 1935 Luciano was jailed and sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison and once released from prison he was deported back to Italy. Luciano made $12 million from the prostitution ring that began in the late 1920s and with that brought attention from authorities. Thomas E. Dewey brought charges against Luciano for running a prostitution ring (Encyclopedia 3). Thomas E. Dewey was an ambitious prosecutor who was appointed to crack down on organized crime. His first target was Luciano, the only crime Dewey was able to connect Luciano with was the prostitution ring. Lucianos trial began and in June 1936 he was convicted on 62 count of compulsory prostitution (Buchanan). Luciano received a 30 to 50 year prison sentence, the longest ever handed down for such a crime (Encyclopedia 3). Dewey wanted to make an example out of Luciano for future mobsters and with the help of the judicial system Dewey was able to achieve that. In 1946 Luciano was released from jail due to his help with WWII. Unfortunately Luciano had never become a citizen when he first came to America, so once released he was sent back to Italy. Luciano lived the rest of his life in Italy until his death on January 26, 1962. Once released in 1946 after serving only 10 years of his 30

Peck 1 year sentence, Luciano was deported and sent back to Italy to spend the remainder of his life. Once becoming Boss of all Bosses, Luciano was able to leave a legacy on the modern day Mafia from starting as a bootlegger in the Prohibition Era, to taking over and reinventing the modern day mafia, and becoming one of the biggest mobsters in history until his untimely death in 1962. Lucky Luciano went from being a young immigrant boy chasing the American dream to grabbing the attention from local gangsters due to his troublemaking ways. Giuseppe Masseria faced off in a bloody war against Marazano and Luciano began to grow impatient with the war and the fact that it was taking away from business. Luciano offered to have Masseria killed to get back to business and once Masseria was out the way Luciano was able to reinvent the Mafia. Luciano did not like the title of Boss of all Bosses; he changed it and created the Commission in order for there to be equality throughout the Mafia. Troubled followed Luciano in his later and in 1936 he faced a 30 to 50 year sentence for a prostitution ring. Luciano got Lucky and only served 10 years of his sentence but was deported back to Italy where he spent the rest of his days. Luciano came to America with his to find the American dream but soon realized that he was faced with new problems that kept him from getting the American dream the legitimate way. In one of Lucianos last interviews he stated Id do it legal, I learned too late that you need just as good a brain to make a crooked million as an honest million (Buchanan 4). With that Luciano was able to leave a mark on history and also achieved his goal of transforming the Mafia to what is today.